By My Side
by xCecilex
Summary: OneShot. Ritsuka is having a bad day, and doesn't want to see Soubi, but Soubi doesn't accept this. RitsukaxSoubi of course. Lots of fluff! Simple story about Ritsuka taking comfort from Soubi and admitting his feelings. First Loveless fic. Small changes.


**Disclaimer: I own nothing; Yun Kouga created all these wonderful characters. If I owned them Ritsuka so would've lost his ears to Soubi already.**

**By My Side: A Loveless Fanfiction one-shot.**

"Look at him."

"I know. He's always waiting outside the elementary school. Do you think we should tell someone?" Her companion, a middle-aged lady, shook her head.

"The teachers know he's here. He doesn't look suspicious; he looks beautiful."

"That's probably why no one says anything to him." They laughed and continued walking while the blonde haired man smiled.

Soubi had rearranged his schedule to be able to wait on Ritsuka. He had called him earlier, but the conversation hadn't gone well.

**"No, Soubi, I don't want you to wait on me." Soubi was surprised at his snappish tone. He usually wasn't so harsh when everything was going fine between them.**

"_**Why not?"**_

"_**I don't want you to!"**_

_**The man didn't have a chance to answer as the dial tone buzzed in his ear. Soubi frowned at his closed phone, trying to interpret Ritsuka's tone. He could usually easily identify the boy's different tones: I'm actually annoyed with you tone; I'm acting annoyed at you, but I'm not really annoyed tone; You confuse me, so I'll lash out tone; and many others.**_

_**Soubi sighed. He was never going to able to concentrate on his classes.**_

_**0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000**_

Ritsuka closed his eyes and laid his head on his arms, replaying his earlier conversation with Soubi. He hadn't meant to snap and yell at him, but he was just so… annoyed. He had thought he was annoyed at Soubi for simply being Soubi, however, he had snapped at Yuiko when she had done nothing wrong. Sensei began lecturing about Japanese as Ritsuka went to sleep.

Yuiko looked at her sleeping friend with a slightly tortured expression. She knew nothing was wrong between him and Soubi-san; he was in a different kind of bad mood than when he fought with Soubi-san. Ritsuka had denied feeling bad when asked, but Yuiko didn't believe him.

Ritsuka slept in the nurse's office the last half of the day though it did nothing to improve his mood. He was still cranky, irritable, and generally unpleasant. He had thought sleeping would help him feel better along with the medicine the nurse gave him, but he was wrong. He now felt worse, every ache in his body amplified.

"Ritsuka!"

He stopped, guilt overwhelming him, as Soubi leaned casually against the wall like a lazy cat. "Soubi, I… I told you I didn't want you to wait on me." Soubi wanted to scoop the slim child into arms, but was denying the temptation. That wasn't going to help the situation, or put Ritsuka in a better mood to remove the scowl from his adorable face.

"I know. I was worried about you. You sounded off on the phone." Ritsuka stared at Soubi's shoes. Why didn't he just apologize and say that he didn't feel well? He felt completely miserable. He just wanted to sleep more; maybe more sleep would help even though it hadn't previously.

"Ritsuka-kun! Soubi-san!" Soubi straightened up and smiled as Yuiko ran toward them. "Soubi-san, did Ritsuka-kun say what's wrong? I don't think he feels good."

"He didn't tell me what's wrong, but he does look really pale."

"He spent half the day asleep in the nurse's office."

"Quit talking about me as if I'm not here!"

Soubi turned and bent down to the twelve-year-old's height at the slight tremble in his voice. He had never dealt with a crying Ritsuka and desperately hoped he wouldn't have to today. "I'm sorry, Ritsuka. We wont do it again." Ritsuka refused to look at him, eyes downcast, cheeks pink, and ears laid flat back against his head. Soubi, giving into his temptations, picked the child up.

"Soubi! Put me down! I can walk!" Soubi ignored his protests and began walking toward Ritsuka's house. "No! You're not taking me to my house and that's an order!" Yuiko looked confusedly at the pair. Why was Soubi-san obeying Ritsuka-kun?

"Why don't you want to go home? Did your mom do something again?"

"Put me down! It looks weird for you to be carrying me like this! It looks like I can't walk!" Soubi obeyed this time, unable to go against Ritsuka's serious tone, though he immediately thought better of it. Ritsuka blushed as Soubi's hands held his waist to stop his swaying.

**_How can you make me blush so easily? I don't want you to hold me, but the second I'm out of your arms, I want to be back in them. I hate this. Why am I so confused? I want to run away from you. I want you to hold me. I need to sleep more; I'm sick. Is that why I'm more confused than normal? Because I'm sick?_**

"Ritsuka?"

The boy shook his head and buried his face in his hands, beyond exhaustion, and with a fever raging through his body. Why was everything so screwed up? Why couldn't his brain just shut up and let him sleep peacefully? Were things ever going to be calm between Soubi and him?

**_No_**, he thought, **_I'm not going to cry. I don't want to cry!_**

Soubi gently pulled him forward a little until Ritsuka's legs were touching his own. Was he crying? **_What do I do if he is crying? I've never been good at comforting people, or dealing with crying. What do I do with a crying Ritsuka?_**

Ritsuka let Soubi pull him forward until his chin rested at the man's shoulder, tears squeezing past his closed eyelids. Ever inch of his body hurt, whether it was from his fever, or from his mother's beating the night before, he didn't know. Burying his face in Soubi's neck, Ritsuka removed his hands and clung to Soubi as soon as he felt the man move against him.

"What's wrong, Ritsuka? If you tell me what's wrong, I can fix it; I can make it disappear."

"I… I feel miserable. Everything hurts; I want to sleep more."

**_He's crying! What do I do?_** "We can go to my place. You can sleep as long as you want, and I have medicine I can give you that'll help with the pain. I can tell Yuiko to go home, okay?" The child thought about it for a moment before nodding against Soubi's warm neck, tears still wetting his cheeks. Ritsuka didn't listen as Soubi told Yuiko his plan. He didn't protest this time as Soubi stood and gathered him in his arms. Ritsuka relaxed against Soubi's chest as the large hand slowly rubbed his back. He didn't question any of the feelings that came with Soubi being so close. There was no need to analyze, or worry. It felt good and that was all that mattered.

Soubi ignored the weird looks he got from people as he walked down the street and turned his attention back to the crying child snuggled against his chest. He couldn't see Ritsuka's face, only his hair and ears, which were still flat against his head. He had seen his ears down before, but they had never been so flat against his head. Why did they have to be at such a perfect angle for him to bite? A little nibble wouldn't do any harm. Besides, Ritsuka was just to shy to say he enjoyed it.

"Hey! Soubi! No biting! They're my ears!"

_**At least I got a reaction out of him that isn't tears.**_

"Really? They're your ears, are they?"

Ritsuka frowned at him, cheeks still wet, but no more tears coming out. What did Soubi mean by that? "Of course they're mine! There're on my head." Ritsuka's eyes were bright with fever, but he still understood Soubi's not so subtle implication.

"They'll be mine soon enough." Soubi smiled as Ritsuka's eyes widened.

"They will not be! I'm twelve! I'm not loosing my ears anytime soon! Why are we talking about my ears anyway? I wanna rest."

"You are resting, and we're talking about your ears because I like seeing your reactions. We can easily talk about something else though, like why you won't let me take you home. You're going to have to wake up in order to get home in time for your curfew."

Ritsuka reburied his head in Soubi's neck. He didn't want to even think about the beating. She usually kept her hits at one part of his body. This was the first time she had beat him with a belt. He knew he was going to have bruises for weeks. Maybe it would be good to tell Soubi; he might have something to help the bruising and welts. "Mom's mad at me. I couldn't remember something from when I was eight." Ritsuka leaned further into him as Soubi hugged the slender body tightly.

"What did she do?"

The black haired child closed his eyes as his throat began to burn. Why was he so weepy today? "She beat me, but you can't tell anyone. I just need some pain medication and sleep. I'll be fine."

The man looked at the dark head nestled against his shoulder and sighed. No one deserved to be beaten, especially his Ritsuka. "She doesn't have a right to do that to you."

"We're not talking about it! I- I can't talk about it."

**_Don't sob, please don't sob. You just stopped crying, please don't start again_**.

"Okay, we won't talk about it. Just try to sleep. We're going to take a taxi to my house. I'm not going to let anyone hurt you. You're safe as long as you're with me."

Ritsuka closed his eyes again, thinking. Did he really believe that? Was he really safe as long he was with Soubi? The answer automatically came: yes. As long as he was with Soubi, he was safe. He knew Soubi would do everything in his power to protect him from anyone. He knew Soubi could and would make his mother stop hurting him with a few simple words. He knew that whatever happened in the next days, months, or even years, that Soubi would remain by his side.

"I love you, Ritsuka."

"I love you too, Soubi."

The seconds the words were out of his mouth, he knew they were true, and that he could never go back.

**Author's Note: Okay, I'm not that big a fan of this. I don't feel like I managed to really capture Ritsuka and Soubi and their unique relationship, but hopefully I got close. PLEASE REVIEW!!! This is my first Loveless fan fic, so I'm very unsure of it. If people think it's good I can do more fluffy stuff like this if anyone wants it. PLEASE REVIEW! Flames will be ignored. This is just an edited version of it from a few of my mistakes that spell check didn't catch, and some of my own revisions where I thought it sounded better with a few words deleted here and there that didn't change the meaning.**


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